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Among the best evidence for the divinity of
Christ is that He fulfilled Old Testament prophecies.
It is have been successfully proven that these
Old Testament documents predate the birth of
Christ.
Many of these prophecies predict the genealogy
of Christ (i.e. "a descendant of Abraham").
There are several claims in the Gospels that Christ's
family lines are consistent with those predicted
by Old Testament prophecies, but is there any
outside evidence that this is indeed true?
One can certainly claim that the Gospel writers
had no motive to lie in their documents, and
I do find that a convincing argument, but is
there any outside evidence confirming the actual
geneology of Christ?
How well documented are
Christ's family lines, and if they are documented,
how convincing is the documentation and why?
Thanks for your help!
God bless,
Ryan Barba
{
Is there any "outside evidence" of Christ's family lines, consistent with Old Testament prophecies?
}
Eric replied:
Hi Ryan,
There is virtually no documentation of Christ outside of the New Testament, other
than an oblique reference to a "Chrestus" by a pagan author and a section
by Josephus, which some consider partially suspect (in that it treats Christ with
greater deference you'd expect from a Jew). I have never heard of his genealogy being
externally documented but if it was, Josephus would be the place to look.
Hope this helps,
Eric
Mary Ann replied:
Hi, Ryan--
Off the cuff, here: The Jews kept good records, partly for temple service
purposes, but with the second destruction of the Temple and the dispersal,
I believe it was lost, except for the rabbinical lines starting around
the time of Christ. I know that in the last few years, they wanted to find
out how many Cohens were really priestly descendants, and they had to do
it with DNA analysis, not records.
Mary Ann
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